<<CBOE probes Associates First, Citigroup options
CHICAGO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The Chicago Board Options Exchange said on Wednesday it is investigating ``unusual'' trading activity in options on Associates First Capital Corp. (NYSE:AFS - news) and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C - news).
``Yes, the CBOE has initiated an investigation into unusual trading activity in AFS and Citigroup options,'' said CBOE
spokeswoman Lynne Howard-Reed in response to an inquiry.
Traders said Salomon Smith Barney, owned by Citigroup, on Friday and Tuesday bought roughly 4,000 September 27.5 calls.
The options trades were viewed as unusual by the market maker partly because those September options, which expire on Sept. 15, had relatively little open interest and low volume, and because the options value skyrocketed on Wednesday after news of the buyout. He also noted that firm that handled the options order is owned by the company that purchased Associates First.
``It was entered as a customer order,'' said a CBOE market maker. ``I've been down here 15 years, and I've never seen anything this blatant....The exchange has already been down here asking about it.''
On Wednesday, Citigroup said it would buy Associates First Capital Corp. for $31.3 billion in stock.
``The tie-in is Salomon Smith-Barney is a unit of Citigroup,'' said Paul Foster, investment strategist with 1010wallstreet.com. ``It's interesting.''
A Citigroup spokesperson was not immediately available for comment and First Associates referred questions to Citigroup. >> |
